It was on the morning of New Years. Nagisa was sound asleep in his bedroom. Since he and Rei moved in with Makoto, they had gotten separate rooms. This served Nagisa well, seeing as this was one of the things he had always wanted. At the orphanage, he had always shared his room with someone, at first a boy his own age, and later on, he got to share a room with Rei. But now he had a room all to himself. What more could he want?

But Nagisa was soon awakened from his peaceful slumber by a stressed out Makoto who slammed the door open and hurried in to wake him up.

"Nagisa, we need to get going really soon!" Makoto exclaimed, tearing Nagisa out of his futon.

Nagisa shook his head, refusing to get up. He didn't feel like he had slept enough. Sadly he had these mornings when he wouldn't want to do anything. On these mornings, he would be exceptionally sleepy too.

"Come on," Makoto practically dragged Nagisa out of bed and found some clothes for him. Then he helped the still sleepy Nagisa get dressed. "We really are in a hurry," he said.

"Why?" Nagisa muttered. He stretched up his arms as Makoto could pull his shirt over his head.

"There was a minor train accident this morning, it's blocking the direct line to my parents' house, so we need to take a detour," Makoto explained.

Nagisa nodded and stood up. He then went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Makoto smiled, happy that Nagisa was so understanding and willingly did all these things. Normally on mornings like this, Makoto would be the one who had to wash his face and brush his teeth for him. This would normally cause Nagisa to get more irritable than usual.

Makoto went downstairs where Rei had been watching over the rice while he was waking up Nagisa. Makoto now took over again and finished cooking in due time for when Nagisa came downstairs. They swallowed breakfast in a hurry, got on their coats and shoes and left for the train station.

The plan was that Makoto would arrive in due time to help out with dinner preparations and anything else that needed to be done before they could celebrate New Year's. It had been a sort of tradition ever since he moved out five years ago.

Makoto would normally arrive around 11 in the morning, but due to the minor accident in the night, he, Rei and Nagisa didn't manage to arrive until a little before noon. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently. He always did this when coming home after he had moved out.

The door was opened almost immediately by a young, overly excited girl whose face lit up as soon as she saw Makoto outside.

"Nii-chan!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, Ran," Makoto said.

"Mom!" Ran called. "Nii-chan's home!"

A soft laugh was heard. "You know his home isn't here anymore, Ran," she said as she came out and stood in the doorway. She looked at Makoto and smiled. "It's been too long," she said.

"I'm sorry," Makoto apologized. "I've been busy,"

She laughed. "I can imagine." Then she noticed Nagisa and Rei who were both trying to hide a little behind Makoto. Meeting his family had made both of them nervous all of the sudden.

"Who are those two behind you?" She asked while looking back up at Makoto with a slightly confused look.

"Sorry," Makoto apologized again. "I forgot to tell you that I've adopted two boys recently," He smiled at his mother then.

"You really have been busy," Makoto's mother said. Then she stepped aside and pulled Ran with her. "Come on in, all of you," she said.

"Thank you," Makoto said. "Sorry for the intrusion," he said. Nagisa and Rei repeated him before they all stepped inside and took off their coats and shoes.

Ren now came out of the living room. "Nii-chan's home," he said.

Their mother sighed and shook her head, refusing to repeat what she had just said to Ran less than five minutes ago. Both of them know it anyway.

"Ren, Ran, we need someone to go down by the convenience store and buy a little extra for tonight, seeing as we've got two more mouths to feed," she asked them.

Ren and Ran both nodded and left the house quickly. Both smiled at Rei and Nagisa as they walked by and Ran even waved at them before closing the door.

Makoto's mother then called on her husband and asked him to go find some of Ren's and Makoto's old toys as Nagisa and Rei had something to play with while they were preparing dinner. Makoto's father then went upstairs with Nagisa and Rei curiously following him once they were invited to do so.

Makoto's mother then let the way to the kitchen where she and Makoto both got started on preparing the food.

"You could've at least told us that you were thinking of making us grandparents," Makoto's mother said.

"Sorry," Makoto said. "It all happened so fast. I didn't even plan on adopting them until I got the offer of doing it right away," he said. He grabbed some vegetables from the fridge and started pealing them.

"When did you adopt them?" she asked.

"The beginning of this month," Makoto answered. "But I've had them over for dinner twice a week since the end of October," he said.

"That's not long," his mother said. "What even gave you the idea to adopt them, let alone have them over for dinner?" she asked.

Makoto smiled as he continued to peal. "I heard someone talk about them not being wanted by anyone. They were said to be more trouble than they were worth. I didn't follow, so I invited them over to see for myself if it was really true. Before I knew it, we had grown close and I more or less already felt like their parent, like I was responsible for them. When I was told that they wanted to live with me, I simply couldn't deny the request and agreed to adopt them right then and there. I haven't had a single regret about that decision." He said.

Makoto's mother laughed. "That doesn't really surprise me," she said. "You have always been too kind for your own good, and although I'm a bit surprised because this is so sudden, I don't doubt you'll be thee best parent they could ever wish for," She started cutting the meat as she continued to speak. "In return, your father and I will be the most supporting parents and grandparents we can be. If you're stressed, we can take them over for a bit and we will make sure they're feeling like they're really a part of this family," she said.

Makoto smiled. "Thank you, mom," he said.

"And I'm sure Ren and Ran will do all they can as well," she assured.

Makoto nodded and grabbed a new vegetable to peal. "I know," he said.

Shortly after, Ren and Ran returned with extra food and drinks. They then went upstairs to talk to and play with Nagisa and Rei.

When it was time for dinner, both Nagisa and Rei appeared to have had a great time with Ren and Ran and once dinner was over, the entire family sat and played a board game that Nagisa had picked out for them. Makoto ended up winning the game, while Nagisa was second to complete. He then stated that he had let Makoto win.

"I know that," Makoto said, while smiling.

Half an hour later, Nagisa was sound asleep on the floor, completely exhausted after all the experiences he had had today. Rei tried to stay awake, but he also ended up falling asleep before the clock stroke 12.

After a long discussion, Makoto's mother ended up staying inside and watch over the sleeping children while Makoto, Ren, Ran and their father went outside to see a firework show, one of their neighbors were putting on for everyone in the street to watch. He had done this for as long as Makoto could remember. Makoto believed it continued to become more beautiful for each year. He couldn't wait for the year when Nagisa and Rei were both able to stay awake for long enough to see it. This was the thought that went through his head as he watched.

After this, they all went inside. Makoto's mother had already found two futons, one for Rei and one for Nagisa, and laid them out in Makoto's old room. They would all sleep there

"Thank you," Makoto told both his parents before going to bed.

"What for?" his mother asked.

"For showing Rei and Nagisa a good time. I'm sure they really did feel like they belong here," Makoto said.

"That's the least we could do," his father said while smiling. "After all, those two are just as much part of our family as you are."

Makoto smiled gratefully. "Thank you," he said once more before wishing his parents a good night and going to bed.

I know this might already have become a bit boring because there's not really anything going on, that wasn't the intention either. If you're hoping the same climatic upbuild that the other stories had, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it won't be in this one. There are a few minor climaxes though.

The story was intended to explain what happened before Makoto and the others moved to Tokyo, and explain further what happened druing and between the small flash-backs I wrote. With that being said. If there is anything in regards of this series that you want me to write a story about too, please let me know.

Thanks for reading.

Jackie